President Obama: ‘Trayvon Martin could have been me’

President Obama made an unexpected appearance at today’s White House press briefing to respond to the Trayvon Martin case, saying that America needed to do some soul searching.

“There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me,” he said. “And there are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator. There are very few African-Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.” Watch the full speech below: